DECOLONIAL THEORY

ETHN 189—Fall 2014

Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00-3:20
Center Hall 223

Professor: Daphne V. Taylor-García

Office: Social Science Building 226
Mailbox: Department of Ethnic Studies, SSB 201
Email: dtg@ucsd.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 3:30pm-4:30pm and by appointment

Course Description

“Decolonial Theory” is a title coined to describe the intellectual work articulating a broad
rejection of Western European supremacy by colonial/racial subjects. The roots of
decolonization can be traced to the first responses made by colonial/racial subjects as
early as 1492 to the violence wrought by Columbus' shipmates in the Caribbean and can
be found consistently in revolts throughout the Americas for the next 450 years. An
important turning point in the history of decolonization was the successful Haitian
revolution carried out by enslaved people that led to Haiti’s independence from the
French in 1804. In the following century, particularly after WWII, decolonial theory and
action took a definitive form as colonial/racial subjects from around the world fought for
their liberation and made explicit connections between the experiences of different
colonized groups. A rich intellectual tradition was developed that drew on local
Indigenous knowledge bases, but simultaneously and explicitly engaged Marxist,
existentialist, phenomenological and other modes of analysis; pointing out each
discourses' respective limitations while furthering their applicability to the conditions at
hand. The deep skepticism to European supremacy expressed by decolonial theorists
extends to the economic and social promises of the "American Dream," to the intellectual
production of Eurocentric theorists, to standards and themes of gendered difference and
sexual desire: it is an ongoing project. Just as the “linguistic turn” was a significant shift
in Western cultural theory that critiqued the universal subject and sought to account for
difference, the “decolonial turn” is a significant shift that elaborates the colonial divide in
theories of embodiment, knowledge production, and economic exploitation, etc.,
speaking to the specificities of the colonial/racial experience.

Decolonial theory is a very large body of intellectual work. Thus, this course will be
neither comprehensive nor exhaustive. Instead, the course will focus on two key themes
that have been of particular concern in the contemporary moment: the “coloniality of
being” and the “national settler-colonial question.” The purpose of this course is twofold:
to familiarize students with central concerns in contemporary debates of decolonization
as well as to continue to think through possible futures.

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Course Requirements

1) Class Discussion and Attendance – 20%

Seminar style classes are discussion based. So while I will lecture to help elucidate,
contextualize or elaborate a particular concept, it is also expected that students will
come to class ready to engage in a discussion. Please arrive in class having completed
the assigned readings for the day.

2) Assignment #1 and #2: Each paper is to be 4 - 5 pages long. Instructions: Identify and
explain a key argument in each unit’s readings. Draw your examples from the unit.
First paper due based on Unit 1: October 28th – 20%
Second paper due based on Unit 2: November 20th – 20%

3) Attend a special event hosted by Ethnic Studies, Critical Gender Studies, the Black
Studies Project, or the Chicano/a~Latino/a Arts and Humanities Program —10%
Write a 1pg report of what you learned or what questions were raised for you from the
event. Assignment is due within one week of the event’s date.

4) Assignment #3: This paper is to be 750 words long. Instructions: Write an

op-ed based on Harsha Walia’s book. Follow these guidelines on how to write an op-ed:
http://newsoffice.duke.edu/duke_resources/oped
Due December 15th – 20%

3) Class Presentation can be based on any one, or a combination, of your written

assignments, OR based on a relevant work with which you are already familiar. You will
need to sign up for 8-10 min presentations on December 9th and 11th - 10%

Papers should be written in a 12-point standard font (e.g., Times New Roman), double
spaced, and paginated.

Required Books (Book can be purchased at UCSD bookstore. All articles available on TED)
Harsha Walia. Undoing Border Imperialism. Oakland: AK Press, 2013.

-Please bring copies of the readings to class.

-Please note: Readings may be edited or added depending on class discussions.

Accommodations:

I would like to ensure this class is accessible to everyone. Please contact me as soon as
possible if you require any specific accommodations for a disability or medical reason.

COURSE SCHEDULE

October 2
Introductions
Discussion of terminology
Film: When Worlds Collide

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UNIT 1: The Coloniality Of Being

Week 1
Oct 7
Film: When Worlds Collide continued.
Anibal Quijano and Immanuel Wallerstein. “Americanity as a Concept”

Oct 9
Anibal Quijano. “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism and Latin America”

Week 2
Oct 14
Nelson Maldonado Torres. “The Coloniality of Being”

Oct 16
Sylvia Wynter. “Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom”

Week 3
Oct 21
Wynter, continued.

Oct 23
Maria Lugones. “The Coloniality of Gender”

UNIT 2: The National Settler-Colonial Question

Week 4
Oct 28
Lorenzo Veracini. “Introduction: The Settler Colonial Situation” in Settler Colonialism: A
Theoretical Overview. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Assignment #1 due in class

Wednesday Oct. 29 Special event: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An

Indigenous People’s History of the United States will be speaking. Details TBA.

Oct 30
Hegel – “Lordship and Bondage” from The Phenomenology of Spirit.
Frantz Fanon – “The Black Man and Hegel” and “By Way of Conclusion” from Black
Skin White Masks.

Week 5
Nov 4
Glen Coulthard. “Subjects of Empire: Indigenous Peoples and the ‘Politics of
Recognition’ in Canada.” Contemporary Political Theory, 2007, 6, (437–460).

Nov 6
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Excerpt from “The Right of Nations to Self-Determination.”
Prosveshcheniye Nos. 4, 5 and 6, 1914. [Marxists Internet Archive]
Andre Gunder Frank. “The Development of Underdevelopment“ in Latin America:

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 Underdevelopment or Revolution: Essays on the Development of
Underdevelopment and the Immediate Enemy. New York: Monthly Review Press,
1969.
Lee Maracle and Ray Bobb. “Natives Are Part Of The Third World,” Canadian
Revolution No. 6, October 1976.

Week 6
Nov 11—Veterans Day

Nov 13
Jodi Byrd. “’Been to the Nation, Lord, but I Couldn’t Stay There’: Cherokee Freedmen,
Internal Colonialism, and the Racialization of Citizenship,” in The Transit of
Empire.

Week 7
Nov 18
Andrea Smith. “American Studies without America: Native Feminisms and the
Nation-State.”

UNIT 3: Decolonizing Border Imperialism

Nov 20
Harsha Walia. Undoing Border Imperialism. Oakland: AK Press, 2013.
Pgs xviiii—78
Assignment #2 due in class

Week 8
Nov 25— Film TBA

Nov 27—Thanksgiving

Week 9
Dec 2
Walia. Undoing Border Imperialism. Pgs 81-202
Sign up for presentations

Dec 4
Walia. 207—283

UNIT 4: The Students Teach!

Week 10
Dec 9
Presentations

Dec 11
Presentations

Assignment #3 Due DECEMBER 15th by 1pm

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 Please drop off in box at SSB 226

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